We’re half way in the season now folks and things are starting to shape up for the playoff races. As expected in the West, the Tornado Humpers and Fire have established themselves as clearly the team to beat if you want to get the league title game. This week was their showdown, possibly a preview of this conference’s title game and Fresno got worked by NBGTTH.
The East is a completely different story as they contain a slew of powerful teams, including recently dubbed Hell Fire Alley, which includes Bristol, NY Warriors, Louisville, Eleven Wise, Freedom. Many of those teams are in the middle of squaring off on each other which should sort out the top 4 spots in the next three to four games. The sad part about this conference is that even though this is A ball, some very good teams are going to miss the playoffs and a couple will miss out on promotion as well. This conference is really strong.
Western Conference Standings
1 North By Gawd Texas Tornado Humpers 8-0-0 W8
The Tornado Humpers continue to roll through the conference unhindered in their quest and in a possible preview of the conference title game; NBGTTH defeated their closest rival for the league title, Fresno, by a hefty margin. I honestly don’t see them losing another game in the home stretch. Get your tickets a ready folks, the Western title game’s going to be on the Humper’s field.
2 Fresno Fire 7-1-0 L1
Fresno continues to rack up the wins, but struggled against the Dollar 99’s and LA Majors, then finally fell flat against the Humpers as their defense was completely overwhelmed. They did score consistently though, so they have film to show them what worked and what didn’t against them, but it’s going to a long wait to find out if they learn from it. I don’t expect the Fire to lose down the stretch either, but If I were to reach and give anyone a chance, it would be Pontiac or Jacktown since I don’t think San Jose can fix the CPU player issues they have in time for the next game.
3 Jacktown Smackdown 6-2-0 W6
Jacktown continues their climb up the rankings and finally cracked the top four as predicted. They question is if they can hang onto it and they’ll have to run the table on the next 6 games to almost guarantee it since they face the Humpers and Fresno to close out the season, which could very well be losses for them. They’ll make the playoffs for sure and a home playoff seed is certainly in their own under their own control.
4 Pontiac War Kittens 6-2-0 W1
After getting thumped by the Humpers, they dusted themselves off and took care of business with San Jose to get back on track. The War Kittens will have trouble closing out the season with Reno, Jacktown, and Fresno, so having the home playoff game is by no means a safe bet just yet. With three teams locked at 6-2, the LA Majors clawing at 5-3, and Reno still in the sights at 4-4. As with Jacktown, their home playoff hopes are is in their own hands.
5 Omaha Mavericks 6-2-0 W4
Make no mistake, the Mavericks are surging with the up and down talent levels they’ll be facing, they should be making a case to earn a home playoff game, but it’s going to be an uphill battle and they’ll need some help from other clubs. Missing the playoffs isn’t an option, they’ll be there. The question is where.
6 Los Angeles Majors 5-3-0 W1
LA suffered serious blow to their home playoff chances by losing to the War Kittens and Fire two weeks in a row. Although they had the Fire on the ropes, they couldn’t close the deal. They are a scrappy team, and if everything falls into place, they could realistically make the top four, but it’s an outside chance.
7 Reno Marauders 4-4-0 W1
First of four teams stuck at 4-4. Honestly, I’m a little surprised to see them at 4-4 and reviewing the rest of their schedule, they should close out well and secure their playoff seed without a major issue. They can’t sleep through the schedule though; they’ll still have to work for it.
8 D.C. Sonics 4-4-0 L1
Second of four teams stuck at 4-4. The Sonics are in a little bit of trouble due to their streakiness and they just dropped one to LA which might start another losing trend. If they can apply the brakes fast enough, they might get the team back on track and in the right direction, but they’ll most likely have to start the comeback with a losing record since they have the Humpers next.
9 Olympia Dollar Ninety Nines 4-4-0 W1
Third of four teams stuck at 4-4. Olympia finally got out of their losing funk, but it took a crappy CPU team to do it. Admittedly, they faced decent competition; the rest of the road isn’t going to get any easier with the Jacktown, LA, Tornado Humpers, and San Jose still on the schedule. If they don’t figure our something fast, they’ll be rolling the dice on making the playoffs at all.
10 San Jose Chupacabra 4-4-0 L1
Fourth of four teams stuck at 4-4. Win, lose, win lose, win, lose… I don’t see the pattern changing anytime soon, but they’ll need to break the cycle to start climbing back into playoff contention. With Fresno, Tornado Humpers, Dollar 99s, and LA still on the docket, I think that they’ll miss out.
11 Cincinnati Stallions CPU 2-6-0 L1
As a CPU, they stand no chance.
12 Allen Zephyrs CPU 2-6-0 W1
Again, another CPU without a chance.
13 The Militia Minute Men 1-7-0 L1
Chin up guys. You’ve got one win against a CPU team and you’ve got two more coming up. With three in your conference disappearing and a minimum of three or four team promoting up and out of the conference , they’re saving you from relegation.
14 Riders On The Storm 1-7-0 L5
Guys. You lost to a CPU team. You’ve got way too many CPU players yourselves and half of your human agents are INA. Time to scrap the roster and start over.
15 Bay Area Bastards CPU 0-8-0 L9
If anyone loses to them, I’ll personally pummel you.
16 Omaha Invaders 0-8-0 L17
As grim is it might sound, relegation would actually be good for them instead of staying here and getting pounded on for another two seasons while they develop.
Eastern Conference Standings
1 Eleven Wise Monkeys 8-0-0 W8
They spent the first six games on cruise control, then barely survived a relentless Freedom team, and were stung by Bristol more than anticipated. They are in the middle of Hell Fire Alley with the NY Warriors and Louisville up next. If they survive those two, they’ll have home field throughout wrapped up. But it’s not something that they sit back and rest on since one, maybe two teams have an outside chance at winning after that, but it’s unlikely. The next two games will tell a lot because if either NY or Louisville beats them, we’ll have a round robin scenario with all the top teams having the ability to beat each other.
2 New York Warriors 7-1-0 W3
One more game and their through Hell Fire Alley and if they lose to Eleven Wise, there’s going to be a log jam at 7-2. So that upset they gave up to Freedom is suddenly taking on more implications that preferred and still being listed as an underdog to San Francisco, meaning that they’re not out of the woods yet. Although it’s likely they’ll get a home playoff game, they ball is in their court and it’s their position to lose. So far, they’re 2-1 through Hell Fire Alley and it’s almost over.
3 Louisville Nighthawks 7-1-0 L1
Now here’s an interesting turn of events, Louisville lost to NY. With NY losing to Freedom and Freedom losing to Louisville, all three of these teams have the capability to take each other out and securing the last three home playoff seeds is going to be more of a dog fight than most are expecting. We’ll see how much grit they have when they face off with Eleven Wise on Sunday a loss would throw the last three seeds into a log jam for sure and a win would help the Warriors a ton.
4 American Freedom 6-2-0 W1
Freedom has a lot to be thankful for this set of games. To the NY Warriors for their win over Louisville, to the Tigers for upsetting San Francisco, and with Freedom’s own win over the Assassins, Freedom is now right back in the thick of the home field playoff hunt and could end up as high as third if a little more help is garnered, but if that help isn’t obtained, fourth is their likely position since they have a good shot at running the rest of the table. Staying in the home playoff hunt is in their own hands and with the rest of the league’s schedule; they still have a chance to get some help to stay in the top 4.
5 San Francisco Demons 6-2-0 L1
They were clearly upset by the Tigers, which contributes to the chaos in the Eastern bracketing and forecasting. They still have Tri-Cities and Hell Fire Alley to face which will no doubt knock them out of home playoff contention. If they get pummeled through Hell Fire Alley too much, they might miss out on the playoffs altogether, so they need to win at three through that stretch to ensure that they stay in the playoffs. If they drop 4 of those, they’ll be rolling the dice and if they drop five or all six, they can kiss the playoffs good bye.
6 Anonymous Assassins 6-2-0 L1
The assassins were welcomed to Hell Fire Alley by Freedom and were roughed up pretty good. Reality is now at the Assassins doorstep and they’re facing the probability of a long hard 5 game losing streak which would slowly suck them out of the playoffs. If they want to stay in the playoff hunt, they’ve got to figure out how to win at least two of those games, if not, they’re going to need some help to stay in the playoffs.
7 Kentucky Jaguars 5-3-0 W2
I can’t figure these guys out. The battle Eleven Wise relatively well, then get pummeled by the Assassins, Pound on Forth Worth, then lose a heart breaker to San Francisco, then squeak past Bortsville. Will the real Jaguars please stand up? This team really needs to find it’s groove and find it soon because they close the season with Hell Fire Alley and all of those teams will be fighting top seeding and will be relentless in their pursuit. Sitting in seventh with a 5-3 record might seem comfortable at the moment, but truth be told, they are on the bubble and are on the outside looking in.
8 Bortsville Mystery Nerf 5-3-0 W1
Bortsville continues to rip off upsets like there’s no tomorrow. As predicted after an 0-2 start, they’ve rebounded well and have muscled their way back into playoff contention, but will be closing out the season with Hell Fire Alley, which could suck the life right out of them. As previously stated, the teams who promoted with Bortsville already know what’s in store, but for the teams that don’t know them, there’s just a history of underestimating them, which is still the case.
9 Bristol Bullets 4-4-0 L3
Wow. I never would have expected to see Bristol sitting at 4-4 and looking outside in at the playoff picture at this point, yet they are. They got roughed up pretty badly through Hell Fire Alley on the record, but they fought tooth and nail with each of other Alley members, showing the they can compete with them and deserve to be included in the group. With that though, they can take a deep breath now that the worst of it is over and they can start working themselves back into the playoff picture.
10 Megatropolis Tigers 4-4-0 W3
Another good team at 4-4. Given that they had Hell Fire Alley split in two by opening the season on them and closing out against them, they’re likely going have a bookend of losses on the schedule. Right now, the game the hurts the most is the loss to the Assassins since three more losses might ensure they are buying playoff tickets instead of selling them.
11 Tri-Cities Fever 3-5-0 W1
They’re better than the record shows folks, mainly due to losing four straight to Hell Fire Alley. They’ll begin to recover, but it’s going to be a very long shot for them to make the playoffs since they’ll need to nearly win out the season and get help from the rest of the league.
12 Home Town Shockers 2-6-0 W1
They finally got back into the win column, but it’s going to be hit or miss from here on out, with mostly misses.
13 French Lick Dirty Whorns 2-6-0 L2
Who really cares about this farm team? Let them have their CPUs and keep losing. The mastermind behind should be doing well.
14 Fort Worth Warriors 2-6-0 L1
Fort Worth should be better than they are, but alas, it’s about the get even worse with Hell Fire Alley up next.
15 Space Coast Storm Surge CPU 1-7-0 L7
If anybody else loses to this team, you deserve it.
16 Compton Panthers 0-8-0 L11
Guys, congrats on cleaning up the roster. It doesn’t show with wins on the schedule, but I know for one that’s a lot of work.
The East is a completely different story as they contain a slew of powerful teams, including recently dubbed Hell Fire Alley, which includes Bristol, NY Warriors, Louisville, Eleven Wise, Freedom. Many of those teams are in the middle of squaring off on each other which should sort out the top 4 spots in the next three to four games. The sad part about this conference is that even though this is A ball, some very good teams are going to miss the playoffs and a couple will miss out on promotion as well. This conference is really strong.
Western Conference Standings
1 North By Gawd Texas Tornado Humpers 8-0-0 W8
The Tornado Humpers continue to roll through the conference unhindered in their quest and in a possible preview of the conference title game; NBGTTH defeated their closest rival for the league title, Fresno, by a hefty margin. I honestly don’t see them losing another game in the home stretch. Get your tickets a ready folks, the Western title game’s going to be on the Humper’s field.
2 Fresno Fire 7-1-0 L1
Fresno continues to rack up the wins, but struggled against the Dollar 99’s and LA Majors, then finally fell flat against the Humpers as their defense was completely overwhelmed. They did score consistently though, so they have film to show them what worked and what didn’t against them, but it’s going to a long wait to find out if they learn from it. I don’t expect the Fire to lose down the stretch either, but If I were to reach and give anyone a chance, it would be Pontiac or Jacktown since I don’t think San Jose can fix the CPU player issues they have in time for the next game.
3 Jacktown Smackdown 6-2-0 W6
Jacktown continues their climb up the rankings and finally cracked the top four as predicted. They question is if they can hang onto it and they’ll have to run the table on the next 6 games to almost guarantee it since they face the Humpers and Fresno to close out the season, which could very well be losses for them. They’ll make the playoffs for sure and a home playoff seed is certainly in their own under their own control.
4 Pontiac War Kittens 6-2-0 W1
After getting thumped by the Humpers, they dusted themselves off and took care of business with San Jose to get back on track. The War Kittens will have trouble closing out the season with Reno, Jacktown, and Fresno, so having the home playoff game is by no means a safe bet just yet. With three teams locked at 6-2, the LA Majors clawing at 5-3, and Reno still in the sights at 4-4. As with Jacktown, their home playoff hopes are is in their own hands.
5 Omaha Mavericks 6-2-0 W4
Make no mistake, the Mavericks are surging with the up and down talent levels they’ll be facing, they should be making a case to earn a home playoff game, but it’s going to be an uphill battle and they’ll need some help from other clubs. Missing the playoffs isn’t an option, they’ll be there. The question is where.
6 Los Angeles Majors 5-3-0 W1
LA suffered serious blow to their home playoff chances by losing to the War Kittens and Fire two weeks in a row. Although they had the Fire on the ropes, they couldn’t close the deal. They are a scrappy team, and if everything falls into place, they could realistically make the top four, but it’s an outside chance.
7 Reno Marauders 4-4-0 W1
First of four teams stuck at 4-4. Honestly, I’m a little surprised to see them at 4-4 and reviewing the rest of their schedule, they should close out well and secure their playoff seed without a major issue. They can’t sleep through the schedule though; they’ll still have to work for it.
8 D.C. Sonics 4-4-0 L1
Second of four teams stuck at 4-4. The Sonics are in a little bit of trouble due to their streakiness and they just dropped one to LA which might start another losing trend. If they can apply the brakes fast enough, they might get the team back on track and in the right direction, but they’ll most likely have to start the comeback with a losing record since they have the Humpers next.
9 Olympia Dollar Ninety Nines 4-4-0 W1
Third of four teams stuck at 4-4. Olympia finally got out of their losing funk, but it took a crappy CPU team to do it. Admittedly, they faced decent competition; the rest of the road isn’t going to get any easier with the Jacktown, LA, Tornado Humpers, and San Jose still on the schedule. If they don’t figure our something fast, they’ll be rolling the dice on making the playoffs at all.
10 San Jose Chupacabra 4-4-0 L1
Fourth of four teams stuck at 4-4. Win, lose, win lose, win, lose… I don’t see the pattern changing anytime soon, but they’ll need to break the cycle to start climbing back into playoff contention. With Fresno, Tornado Humpers, Dollar 99s, and LA still on the docket, I think that they’ll miss out.
11 Cincinnati Stallions CPU 2-6-0 L1
As a CPU, they stand no chance.
12 Allen Zephyrs CPU 2-6-0 W1
Again, another CPU without a chance.
13 The Militia Minute Men 1-7-0 L1
Chin up guys. You’ve got one win against a CPU team and you’ve got two more coming up. With three in your conference disappearing and a minimum of three or four team promoting up and out of the conference , they’re saving you from relegation.
14 Riders On The Storm 1-7-0 L5
Guys. You lost to a CPU team. You’ve got way too many CPU players yourselves and half of your human agents are INA. Time to scrap the roster and start over.
15 Bay Area Bastards CPU 0-8-0 L9
If anyone loses to them, I’ll personally pummel you.
16 Omaha Invaders 0-8-0 L17
As grim is it might sound, relegation would actually be good for them instead of staying here and getting pounded on for another two seasons while they develop.
Eastern Conference Standings
1 Eleven Wise Monkeys 8-0-0 W8
They spent the first six games on cruise control, then barely survived a relentless Freedom team, and were stung by Bristol more than anticipated. They are in the middle of Hell Fire Alley with the NY Warriors and Louisville up next. If they survive those two, they’ll have home field throughout wrapped up. But it’s not something that they sit back and rest on since one, maybe two teams have an outside chance at winning after that, but it’s unlikely. The next two games will tell a lot because if either NY or Louisville beats them, we’ll have a round robin scenario with all the top teams having the ability to beat each other.
2 New York Warriors 7-1-0 W3
One more game and their through Hell Fire Alley and if they lose to Eleven Wise, there’s going to be a log jam at 7-2. So that upset they gave up to Freedom is suddenly taking on more implications that preferred and still being listed as an underdog to San Francisco, meaning that they’re not out of the woods yet. Although it’s likely they’ll get a home playoff game, they ball is in their court and it’s their position to lose. So far, they’re 2-1 through Hell Fire Alley and it’s almost over.
3 Louisville Nighthawks 7-1-0 L1
Now here’s an interesting turn of events, Louisville lost to NY. With NY losing to Freedom and Freedom losing to Louisville, all three of these teams have the capability to take each other out and securing the last three home playoff seeds is going to be more of a dog fight than most are expecting. We’ll see how much grit they have when they face off with Eleven Wise on Sunday a loss would throw the last three seeds into a log jam for sure and a win would help the Warriors a ton.
4 American Freedom 6-2-0 W1
Freedom has a lot to be thankful for this set of games. To the NY Warriors for their win over Louisville, to the Tigers for upsetting San Francisco, and with Freedom’s own win over the Assassins, Freedom is now right back in the thick of the home field playoff hunt and could end up as high as third if a little more help is garnered, but if that help isn’t obtained, fourth is their likely position since they have a good shot at running the rest of the table. Staying in the home playoff hunt is in their own hands and with the rest of the league’s schedule; they still have a chance to get some help to stay in the top 4.
5 San Francisco Demons 6-2-0 L1
They were clearly upset by the Tigers, which contributes to the chaos in the Eastern bracketing and forecasting. They still have Tri-Cities and Hell Fire Alley to face which will no doubt knock them out of home playoff contention. If they get pummeled through Hell Fire Alley too much, they might miss out on the playoffs altogether, so they need to win at three through that stretch to ensure that they stay in the playoffs. If they drop 4 of those, they’ll be rolling the dice and if they drop five or all six, they can kiss the playoffs good bye.
6 Anonymous Assassins 6-2-0 L1
The assassins were welcomed to Hell Fire Alley by Freedom and were roughed up pretty good. Reality is now at the Assassins doorstep and they’re facing the probability of a long hard 5 game losing streak which would slowly suck them out of the playoffs. If they want to stay in the playoff hunt, they’ve got to figure out how to win at least two of those games, if not, they’re going to need some help to stay in the playoffs.
7 Kentucky Jaguars 5-3-0 W2
I can’t figure these guys out. The battle Eleven Wise relatively well, then get pummeled by the Assassins, Pound on Forth Worth, then lose a heart breaker to San Francisco, then squeak past Bortsville. Will the real Jaguars please stand up? This team really needs to find it’s groove and find it soon because they close the season with Hell Fire Alley and all of those teams will be fighting top seeding and will be relentless in their pursuit. Sitting in seventh with a 5-3 record might seem comfortable at the moment, but truth be told, they are on the bubble and are on the outside looking in.
8 Bortsville Mystery Nerf 5-3-0 W1
Bortsville continues to rip off upsets like there’s no tomorrow. As predicted after an 0-2 start, they’ve rebounded well and have muscled their way back into playoff contention, but will be closing out the season with Hell Fire Alley, which could suck the life right out of them. As previously stated, the teams who promoted with Bortsville already know what’s in store, but for the teams that don’t know them, there’s just a history of underestimating them, which is still the case.
9 Bristol Bullets 4-4-0 L3
Wow. I never would have expected to see Bristol sitting at 4-4 and looking outside in at the playoff picture at this point, yet they are. They got roughed up pretty badly through Hell Fire Alley on the record, but they fought tooth and nail with each of other Alley members, showing the they can compete with them and deserve to be included in the group. With that though, they can take a deep breath now that the worst of it is over and they can start working themselves back into the playoff picture.
10 Megatropolis Tigers 4-4-0 W3
Another good team at 4-4. Given that they had Hell Fire Alley split in two by opening the season on them and closing out against them, they’re likely going have a bookend of losses on the schedule. Right now, the game the hurts the most is the loss to the Assassins since three more losses might ensure they are buying playoff tickets instead of selling them.
11 Tri-Cities Fever 3-5-0 W1
They’re better than the record shows folks, mainly due to losing four straight to Hell Fire Alley. They’ll begin to recover, but it’s going to be a very long shot for them to make the playoffs since they’ll need to nearly win out the season and get help from the rest of the league.
12 Home Town Shockers 2-6-0 W1
They finally got back into the win column, but it’s going to be hit or miss from here on out, with mostly misses.
13 French Lick Dirty Whorns 2-6-0 L2
Who really cares about this farm team? Let them have their CPUs and keep losing. The mastermind behind should be doing well.
14 Fort Worth Warriors 2-6-0 L1
Fort Worth should be better than they are, but alas, it’s about the get even worse with Hell Fire Alley up next.
15 Space Coast Storm Surge CPU 1-7-0 L7
If anybody else loses to this team, you deserve it.
16 Compton Panthers 0-8-0 L11
Guys, congrats on cleaning up the roster. It doesn’t show with wins on the schedule, but I know for one that’s a lot of work.
Last edited Jan 17, 2009 00:57:02
